Tufted pile fabric comprising a flat woven synthetic plastic backing



Nov. 19, 1963 T. M. RHODES 3,110,905

TUFTED PILE FABRIC COMPRISING A FLAT WOVEN SYNTHETIC PLASTIC BACKING 2Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 26, 1961 FIG. 2 PRIOR ART INVENTOR.

TRAVIS M. RHODES BY y a 60. W

Nov. 19, 1963 -r. M. RHODES 3,1 0,905

TUFTED PILE FABRIC COMPRISING A FLAT WOVEN SYNTHETIC PLASTIC BACKINGFiled Sept. 26, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 uvmvrozc TRAVIS M. auooas By (u.

United States Patent 3,110,905 TUFTED PILE FABRIC COMPRISING A FLATWOVEN SYNTHETKC PLASTiC BACKING Travis M. Rhodes, Dalton, Ga, assignorto James Lees and Sons Company, Bridgeport, Pa, a corporation ofDelaware Filed Sept. 26, 1961, Ser. No. 140,896 Claims. (Cl. 139-391)This invention relate-s to soft floor coverings and more particularly topile fabrics produced on a tufting machine employing a plurality ofneedles which carry the pile yarn through the backing material.

It is present practice to employ a flat woven burlaptype backingmaterial having yarns composed of jute, sisal, or sometimes paper. Aserious disadvantage of this backing resides in the fact that thebacking fabric is not of uniform thickness nor density. Thischaracteristic is, of course, due in part to the actual intersticesbetween the individual yarns and in part to the Wide variation inthickness between individual yarns and varying thicknesses in the sameyarn. As a result, the tufting needles sometimes meet no resistancewhatsoever. At the other extreme, the needles encounter maximumresistance due to the necessity for penetrating a thick yarn or doubleyarns. In still other instances the needles seem to push aside the yarnswith little or no penetration of the yarn itself. As a result, the rowsof pile yarn stitches frequently jump back and forth between the samelongitudinal yarns in the backing thus causing gaps between adjacentrows of stitches which include as few as one and sometimes as many asthree yarns of the backing material. This causes grinning and unevenrows of pile. Hereto fore it has been found necessary to overcome thisdisadvantage by producing tutfed pile fabrics with sufiicient pilelength so that these irregularities are substantially concealed. Theseirregularities occur both longitudinally and transversely of the fabricsince a relatively thick transverse yarn in the backing causes a lateralgap or irregularity in the stitch spacing which cannot be in any waycontrolled by adjustment of the tufting machine.

Since the pile projections in a cut pile tufted fabric naturally tend tospread more effectively than in the case of an uncut pile fabric, it is,of course, feasible to tuft a lower cut pile fabric and obtain adequatecoverage than is the case with an uncut or loop pile tufted fabric. Thepresent invention permits the provision of a pile fabric having muchlower pile projections, particularly in a loop pile construction, thanhas previously been possible and still produce a commercially saleablefabric.

In view of the above causes of unevenness in a tufted pile fabricparticularly in the case of loop pile or low pile height, it might havebeen assumed that the use of a uniform sheet material would overcomethese disadvantages. Efforts to obtain satisfactory results using anon-woven sheet backing material have also proved fruitless because inthis case there did not appear to be sufficient friction or bind on theyarns to permit uniform control of pile height, particularly afterdisengagement with the loopers. While the precise reasons forunsatisfactory results with sheet material may not be completelyunderstood, and applicant does not wish to be bound by any theoryadvanced in connection therewith, it is believed that in the case of asheet material the needle merely punches holes which do not havesufficient tendency to re-close or grip the yarns to provide adequate orat least uniform yarn engagement as the needles are removed. In anyevent and for whatever reasons, the present invention permits thetufting of a highly satisfactory pile fabric having adequate coveragewith much lower pile projections and particularly in a loop pileconstruction. It has accordingly been found that a backing materialconstructed of a synthetic plastic material and woven from relativelyflat yarns so that there is uniform needle penetration of the backingmaterial throughout the fabric solves the above-mentioned problems andavoids the disadvantages thereof.

A primary object of the invention, therefore, is to provide an improvedbacking material for a tufted pile fabric.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved tufted pilefabnic having adequate coverage with substantially low pile projections.

A further object of the invention is to provide a tufted pile fabrichaving adequate coverage and utilizing a rela tively low uncut pile.

A further object of the invention is to provide a tufted pile fabrichaving a backing material woven from synthetic plastic yarns with asubstantially rectangular cross section.

Further objects will be apparent from the specification and drawings inwhich:

FIGURE 1 is a bottom view of the improved backing for a tufted pilefabric but showing only one row of pile stitches,

FIGURE 2 is a bottom view showing on an enlarged scale the conventionalbacking for a tufted pile fabric produced from non-uniform backing yarnsand having interstices between the warp and weft of the yarns of thebacking,

FIGURE 3 is an end view of the structure of FIGURE 1, with the pileprojections on top,

FIGURE 4 is an end View of the structure of FIGURE 2, with the pileprojections on top, and

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged sectional detail of a portion of the fabric ofFIGURE 3.

The invention comprises essentially the provision of a woven backingmaterial for a tufted fabric formed of a flat weave of synthetic yarnsin which every point on the backing is of substantially uniformthickness. The yarn-s preferably employed to produce the improvedbacking fabric of the present invention may comprise any synthet-icplastic material capable of being spun, extruded, or shaped into aflattened or rectangular shape. Some of these are members of thepolyolefin family such as polyethylene and polypropylene. Other suitablesynthetic yarns include those generically called acrylic, modacrylic,polyester, nylon, rayon, acetate, triacetate, cellulosic, vinyl,vinylidene chloride, polyvinyl chloride, etc. In some cases it has beenfound desirable to shape the originally formed ribbons or yarns muchwider than the finished Width. These Wider strands are then folded overupon themselves one or more times to provide either a U or Z shapedcross section.

Referring now to the drawings, a backing material it) (F-iGURE 1)comprises a series of warp yams numbered Ill-19 which are interwoven ina one-'and-one weave with weft yarns 204:5. The even width and thicknessof yarns 10 19 and 2tl35 permits the woven fabric to form asubstantially uniform sheet of mate ial having a thickness equivalent totwo yarns at every point in the fabric. This construction thenautomatically eliminates the interstices dill, 41 which are an inherentfeature of the conventional jute or burlap-like backing fabric 52, shownschematically in FIGURE 2. Furthermore, it is possible to control thethickness and width of the synthetic yarns with much greater precisionthan is the case with the jute-type yarns so that all irregularities dueto the interweaving of thin yarns such as 43 and thicker yarns 44 and 45are likewise eliminated. There are no slubs 45 nor thick and thin placeson the synthetic yarns which in turn frequently cause the pile yarn, forexample, yarn 50, to jump over uneven numbers of wefts in the jutebacking. It will be noted that the pile yarn 51 in FIGURE 1 has beenshown as slightly biased with the general direction of warp backingyarns 18 and 19. This is perhaps an exaggerated show- 3 ing butillustrates the fact that even though the stitches in pile yarn 51 d6not always penetrate the backing in a line parallel to the backingfabric warps, it is possible for the stitches to cross from adjacentwarps in the backing without in any way affecting the relativedimensions and shape of the pile projections.

To more clearly bring out the differences produced in the pile yarns,reference may be made to FIGURES 3 and 4 which show a series of looppile projections 55, 5b" in pile yarn it will be observed that thelongitudinal spacing between each of the stitches is approximately thesame regardless of Whether the stitch happens to fall in the middle ofone of the backing yarns, in-between two adjacent backing yarns, or nearthe edge of one of the yarns. This characteristic illustrates thebeneficial results which are achieved when the pile yarn carryingtufting needles always penetrate a homogeneous and relatively uniformwoven backing material. By comparison, the pile projections se, 6'9illustrative of the pile yarn 5th in PiC-URE 2 are clearly uneven, notonly with regard to their height, but with regard to the length of thestitches. it will be understood that he showing of FEGU RE 4 has beenpurposely exaggerated to illustrate the overall result of multi-needletufting in a backing fabric in which the yarns of the backing arenon-uniform and are not tightly spaced with respect to each other sothat there are no apparent or actual interstices between the yarns.Furthermore, with a yarn having a flattened or rectangular cross sectionthe tendency for the needles to glance off the yarns or for the needlesto displace the yarns without piercing or penetrating them, particularlywhen one of the yarns is not squarely pierced in the middle, iseliminated. In view of the relatively high tufting speeds in currentpractice, it will be appreciated that the needles rarely ever penetratea yarn having a generally circular cross section. These yarns are almostalways pushed to one side or the other or" the needles thus producing anirregular or uneven effect as is illustrated in FIGURE 4.

The enlarged showing of PZGURE 5 more clearly illustrates the way inwhich the flattened yarns of the backing are uniformly penetrated by theneedles without displacement with respect to each other. it will benoted that it is possible to maintain the stitch length at a uniformdimension for two reasons. First of all, a flat rather than an arcuatesurface is presented to the needles as the backing fabric is penetrated.Second, the tight weave and close spacing provided with my improvedbacking does not permit shifting or displacing of the yarns in thebacking as is the case with the conventional jute backing.

For purposes of clarity, i have eliminated all of the pile yarns withthe exception of one row of stitches in the showing of FEGURES 1, 3, and5. It will be understood that in fabrics of this type a plurality, asmany as 1500 rows, of parallel stitches are simultaneously produced on amulti-needle tufting machine. Examples of such tufting machines areshown in l atents 2,862,465; 2,977,905; and 2,352,153.

Further important advantages of the present invention are the fact thatin addition to uniform stitch length it is possible to obtain muchbetter control of pile height in the low pile areas. The pileprojections are of sub stantially constant height and shape.Furthermore, it has unexpcctedly been found that for the same needlepenetration adjustment on the tufting machine, the present inventionproduces relatively higher pile projections because of the bettergripping action between the backing fabric and the pile yarns. With theelimination of a jute backing, it is possible to achieve better dyeingand particularly fonrnula dyeing, because there is no color run-out fromthe burlap or jute type backing. Heretofore it has been foundcommercially impossible to piece dye tufted fabrics using formuladyeing.

In addition to the advantages rec ted above, pile fabrics constructed inaccordance with the present invention have no transverse gaps or streaksoften referred to as machine marks caused when the tufting machine isstopped and subsequently started. Likewise, the dimensional stability ofthe fabric is greatly improved.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A tufted pile fabric comprising a synthetic plastic backing materialof uniform thickness woven of uniform strands, and rows of pileprojections piercing said strands.

2. A fabric in accordance with claim 1 in which the backing strands areclosely spaced together both warpwise and weftwise of the fabric toeliminate interstices therebetween.

3. A fabric in accordance with claim 1 in which the strands of thebacking material are selected from a materialcomprising polyethylene,polypropylene, nylon, polyester.

4. A tufted pile fabric comprising a synthetic plastic backing materialwoven of uniform yarns of relatively flat cross section, and rows ofpile projections piercing said yarns.

5. A fabric in accordance with claim 4 in which the pile yarn stitchespenetrate at least two of the backing yarns at all times.

6. A fabric in accordance with claim 4 in which the backing yarns areclosely spaced together both warpwise and weftwise of the fabric toeliminate interstices therebetween.

7. A fabric in accordance with claim 4 in which the yarns of the backingmaterial are selected from a material comprising polyethylene,polypropylene, nylon, polyester.

8. A low loop pile tufted pile fabric comprising a tightly woven backingof synthetic plastic yarns without interstices therebetween, and atleast one row of pile yarns forming projections on one side of thebacking said pile yarns piercing the yarns of said backing.

9. A fabric in accordance with claim 8 in which the synthetic plasticyarns of the backing are of rectangular cross section.

1%. A fabric in accordance with claim 8 in which the synthetic plasticbacking yarns are selected from the group comprising polyethylene,polypropylene, nylon, polyester.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

1. A TURFTED PILE FABRIC COMPRISING ASYNTHETIC PLASTIC BACKING MATERIALOF UNIFORM THICKNESS WOVEN OF UNIFORM STRANDS, AND ROWS OF PILEPROJECTIONS PIERCING SAID STRANDS.